Focaccia Farcita - Filled Italian Hearth Bread
My mother has been gifting me with dangerous quantities of rich, beautiful cheese – including about 200g of Gorgonzola. I had been eyeing this recipe for some time, and the Gorgonzola was the perfect excuse to try it. I managed to eat about half of the loaf as soon as it came out of the oven! The only downside was that I forgot to make dimples on the top and season with rosemary and rock salt – but it was delicious nonetheless.
Ingredients:
2 tsp dried yeast
350 ml water (tepid)
500g white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
Filling and topping:
200g gorgonzola
200g mozzarella
basil leaves
1/2 tsp rock salt
3 sprigs rosemary, stems removed
4 tbsp olive oil
Sprinkle yeast into 250 ml of the water. Leave for 5 mins; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeasted water and the olive oil.
Mix in the flour. Stir in the remaining water to form a soft, sticky dough. Add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, if required.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth, silky and elastic, about 10 mins.
Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover. Leave to rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Knock back and divide the dough into two equal pieces. Chafe for 5 minutes and then leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out each piece into a 24 cm round. Place one on an oiled baking sheet (baking tray, or pizza stone). Arrange the cheeses and basil leaves over the top, then seal with the second round.
24 cm round of dough
Filling placed on top of round
Leaving sealed dough to prove
Cover the dough loosely with a tea towel. Prove until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Use your fingertips to gently press into the surface of the dough to form dimples about 1 cm deep. Sprinkle with the rock salt, 1 tbsp of olive oil and rosemary.
Baked in preheated oven (200 degrees celsius) for 30-45 minutes until golden. Drizzle immediately with remaining olive oil and serve warm.
Fresh out of the oven!
First slice removed..
If I only I could be content eating just one slice!
Already disappearing...
This recipe came from my staple Bread recipe book I’ve mentioned before. If you liked this post, you’ll probably also like the one about my stromboli.
Note to self; get a better bread knife so the edges don’t look so ragged!
